Competitive business advantages in the era of Unified SuperConvergence

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine opportunities for businesses to derive competitive advantages from broadband wireless products and services in the coming era of Unified SuperConvergence.

Design/methodology/approach

Unified SuperConvergence is defined as a term of art that extends the concept of digital convergence in several ways that are discussed in the paper. Six major technology domains are identified as being highly important elements of this future era, and recent works are referenced to establish technology benchmarks for each domain. Examples of technologies and discussion of their potential usage in business operations are provided.

Findings

Implications of future wireless products and services are discussed from the perspectives of generic business operations as well as for three representative vertical industry segments. The main conclusion to be derived from the discussion in this paper is that the necessary interdependent and underlying enabling technologies and standards are now in place, and market forces are primed and ready to fuel explosive growth in wireless products and services for mobile business applications.

Research limitations/implications

Although an extensive set of over 200 references and resources are cited in the discussion of the six enabling technology domains, this set is not exhaustive and could be extended.

Practical implications

The arena of Unified SuperConvergence represents highly fertile ground for near‐term competitive advantages to be exploited by business firms.

Originality/value

This paper defines a new term of art, Unified SuperConvergence, and discusses six major enabling technology domains that underlie it. An extensive set of literature references is provided to document and extend the foundations for ideas discussed in the paper, as well as to help stimulate and turbo‐charge the reader's thinking about where mobility technologies are taking us, and how businesses can exploit the tremendous opportunities that the future era of Unified SuperConvergence will provide.

Citation

Bonometti, R.J. (2009), "Competitive business advantages in the era of Unified SuperConvergence", Competitiveness Review, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 249-271. https://doi.org/10.1108/10595420910977399